An update to the Samsung Gusto (3 stars), the Samsung Gusto 2 does very little to change the formula established by the original. In fact, aside from a minor update to the camera, and a slightly new look, the rest of the changes are almost impossible to spot. In a sense, that's a good thing—the Gusto 2 remains a very simple cell phone, with good call quality, for anyone that's only interested in making voice calls. On the other hand, there's no new reason to recommend the Gusto 2 to anyone else, and nothing has been done to justify the $69.99 price tag for a phone that should be free.

Design and Call Quality The Gusto 2 measures 3.8 by 1.9 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.9 ounces. It's made entirely of gray matte plastic on the outside, accented by a lightly textured black plastic band that extends to the inside when you flip it open. The look is either sleek and minimal, or cold and drab, depending on how you see it. The internal 2-inch LCD offers just 160-by-128-pixel resolution, which is standard, but unimpressive. There's also a 1.1-inch passive-matrix external display with 96-by-96-pixel resolution. It looks a bit washed out and cramped, but offers up the time, battery life, reception, and a few other useful indicators. The numeric keypad features large, easy-to-press keys, a five-way control pad, and eight function keys—up from five on the original. Now there are dedicated keys for messaging, voicemail, and emergency contacts. Dialing numbers and texting felt fine, thanks to the large number buttons.

The Gusto 2 is a dual-band 1xRTT (850/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi. Voice quality is above average. Voices sound reasonably clear and full in the phone's earpiece, though they distort just a bit at top volume. Transmissions through the microphone sound excellent, full and natural, with very good noise cancellation. There's also a hint of side tone, which is the sound of your own voice that prevents you from yelling. The speakerphone also sounds good, and is loud enough to use outdoors. Calls were clear over a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars), and the Nuance-powered voice dialing worked fine. Battery life was good, at 6 hours and 57 minutes of talk time.

Apps, Multimedia, and ConclusionsThe first time you turn on the phone, you're presented with a number of personalization options, including call sounds, clocks, display themes, font size, and menu layout. This is a nice touch, and one that clues you into the Gusto 2's intended audience: Someone looking for a cell phone that's simple and easy to use. Apps and multimedia are highlighted below, and those are not this phone's strong suit. This isn't a good phone to browse the Web with, for example. The Access NetFront 3.0 browser is slow, only handles WAP pages, and the screen's low resolution lets you read through just a few lines of jagged text at a time.

There's no IM, but email access is included for AOL, Gmail, Microsoft Exchange, Verizon.net, and Windows Live accounts. But it's too much work to type messages without a keyboard, and unless you have a $10 75MB data plan, you have to pay a monthly subscription fee.

VZ Navigator 4.5.3 is included for voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS directions and real-time traffic, though it costs $2.99 per day, $4.99 per week, or $9.99 per month if you don't sign up for that $10 monthly data plan. It works well, but that's a high price to pay considering you can get a similar service for free from using an Android smartphone (though you'll also be paying an even pricier monthly data plan in that case).

Multimedia is pretty much out. There's a non-standard 2.5mm headphone jack, which only works with mono headphones. There's no music or video player, and just a scant 24MB of available internal memory. That's good for about 150 pictures.

The 1.3-megapixel camera is a step up from the original's VGA shooter. Photos are nothing special, but they're okay for the occasional quick shot. There's no microSD card slot, though, so you'll need to email, send a picture message, or transmit the photo via Bluetooth in order to get it off of your phone.

Ultimately, the Gusto 2 shares the same exact strengths and weaknesses with its predecessor. It remains a good choice for Verizon users looking for a simple voice phone. But at $69.99, it's overpriced. You can get more for your money with the free LG Extravert or the LG Cosmos 2 (3 stars). Both of those phones feature keyboards for better messaging capabilities, as well as far more multimedia features than the Gusto 2, though they aren't as simple to use. So if you're looking to keep it simple, the Samsung Gusto 2 is a solid bet, along with the LG Revere ($79.99, 3.5 stars) which has a similar price and design.

Alex Colon is the managing editor of PCMag's consumer electronics team. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English Writing and Literature from Pace University and got his start editing books before deciding technology would probably...

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